´óÏó´«Ã½

A reflection and prayer marking the death of Her Majesty the Queen with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.

Good morning.

The words ‘persevere’ and ‘endure’ feature a lot in the Bible.

First, they are used to describe God. We hear in the Psalms how God’s steadfast love endures forever and in the New Testament’s letter to the Hebrews of how Jesus endures the suffering of the cross.

Persevering also feels like a good word to describe the long reign of Her Majesty the Queen. Her reign spanned generations, and saw astonishing changes. It withstood numerous challenges, setbacks and tragedies, some personal to her, many in our national life. She witnessed the tectonic plates of cultures shifting. Yet, our late Queen remained a fixed point of tenacious faithfulness when everything else seemed insecure or out of kilter, representing something about what it is to serve that had plenty to teach the rest of us, not least that quick fixes rarely fix very much at all. We pray this week for all the Royal Family as they persevere in this time of such sadness and for our new King as he takes up these weighty responsibilities.

Loving God, our world needs persistence. Especially from our leaders, but from all of us. Help us in the challenges we face, be it environmental crisis, international instability, poverty or ingrained prejudice. Help us to find long-term solutions. Give our leaders, and to all the Royal Family, gracious perseverance which reflects your character.

Amen.